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Naval Defense Industry News - France |
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Dassault
Aviation and Thales to modernise French Navy’s Atlantique 2 maritime
patrol aircraft
in partnership with DCNS and SIAé |
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Dassault
Aviation and Thales welcome the award by the French Ministry of Defence
of the contract to modernise the French Navy’s fleet of Atlantique
2 (ATL2) maritime patrol aircraft. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian
signed the contract at a ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the Thales facility in Brest (French Brittany), in the presence of
Laurent Collet-Billon (DGA), Eric Trappier (Dassault Aviation), Jean-Bernard
Lévy (Thales), Patrick Boissier (DCNS) and Patrick Dufour (SIAé).
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French Navy
ATL 2 during operations over Lybia
(picture: EMA/French Navy)
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The contract
was negotiated with the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) and
calls for the modernisation of the mission systems of fifteen ATL2s.
The main aims of the programme are to develop, then integrate on board
the aircraft, next-generation technologies for a new tactical mission
system and state-of-the-art sensor subsystems and display consoles.
The integrated systems will be among the most sophisticated in the entire
aerospace industry. France is the only country apart from the United
States to produce maritime patrol aircraft capable of deploying both
advanced sensor suites (optronic, radar, acoustic) and a wide range
of weapon systems (anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, laser-guided weapons). |
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Radar operator
onboard ATL 2
(picture: EMA/French Navy)
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The upgrade programme
will improve the ATL2's ability to deal with new and emerging threats
under all weather conditions, both in strategic deterrence roles and
in asymmetric conflicts involving quiet and stealthy submarines, high-speed
craft, land vehicles, etc. The aircraft will be equipped to remain
in operational service beyond 2030.
The programme will be conducted by Dassault Aviation and Thales (co-contractors)
in partnership with DCNS and working with the SIAé.
Dassault Aviation will be in charge of developing the core system,
including the LOTI[2] mission software developed by DCNS. Dassault
Aviation will also be responsible for subsystems integration and the
conversion of a “prototype” aircraft for flight testing.
Thales will develop the radar/IFF[3] subsystem and the latest-generation
digital acoustic processing subsystem (STAN). The radar will benefit
from the latest technologies based on those developed for the Rafale.
The STAN subsystem will process signals from all existing and future
sonobuoys, detecting targets over a wider frequency range and making
it possible to counter new types of threats.
DCNS will develop the LOTI software, which will establish an overall
tactical picture based on data from different sensors, and manage
the deployment of torpedoes, missiles and other weapons. This collaborative
system enables several operators to interact at the same time.
The SIAé will be responsible for developing the upgraded tactical
display consoles and managing full-rate aircraft upgrade operations.
The programme will help to maintain key skills required by the defence
industry in areas ranging from undersea warfare and next-generation
acoustics to radars for combat and surveillance roles and complex
systems architecture and integration. The development and production
work will support jobs in several regions of France for both the main
contractors and their partner SMEs.
Sensor developments will build on the results of government-funded
advanced study programmes in underwater detection and combat aircraft
radars, including the RBE2 active electronically scanned array radar
(AESA) developed for the Rafale.
[1] SIAé: Service Industriel de l’Aéronautique
(France’s integrated support service for military aircraft)
[2]
LOTI: Logiciel Opérationnel de Traitement de l’Information
(operational software for information processing)
[3] IFF: Identification Friend or Foe
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